Talking to babies helps them learn language, even if they can't yet respond. New findings from researchers at the University of Washington's Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences hint at why that may be.

The scientists found that speech sounds stimulated areas of the brain that coordinate and plan motor movements for speech, suggesting that simply hearing speech helps babies' brains to eventually make speech of their own.

This video from the experiment shows use of a noninvasive technique called magnetoencephalography (http://ilabs.washington.edu/what-magn...). It is measuring brain activation of a 7-month old infant as she listens to speech sounds played through speakers near her ears. She's hearing sounds like "da" and "ta," which aren't actually audible in this video.